It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations. – Exodus 12: 42

Tonight, thousands of African-American churches all across the United States will gather to observe “Watch Night.” This annual meeting at mid-night is not purely to celebrate the coming of a New Year. (Although, that is a part of it.)

Watch Night has its roots in slavery. In fact, more precisely, it has its roots in the end of slavery in the United States. President Abraham Lincoln wrote, signed and published the Emancipation Proclamation which declared the death of slavery. In part, it said:

“That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

The freedom which it promised to slaves was to take effect at midnight on January 1, 1863. Thus, slaves and free Negros all across America could not sleep on the New Year’s Eve before their liberation. So, they gathered at night to watch the clock as their freedom came upon them.

Therefore, when Blacks worship in church on New Year’s Eve, they don’t do it for good luck in the coming year. They do it to celebrate the freedom they have already received in the days gone by and the freedom they anticipate in the days to come.

We shall overcome. We shall overcome, someday. If in my heart, I do believe. We shall overcome, someday.